Christian Horner reckons having Antonio Felix da Costa in F1 would have been interesting as he clears that Adrian Newey will stay with Red Bull Racing.
Over the years, Red Bull has had numerous drivers, who have made a solid career in racing, whether it is F1 and or other categories. Many of them have seen success by way of winning championships as well, having left the pinnacle of the sport.
The recent figures to achieve success were Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne but da Costa joined the list this year after winning the 2019/20 Formula E title. Among all, the Portuguese is the one talked upon as the unluckiest to not have a F1 run.
He had been the test driver for multiple F1 outfits, including Red Bull, but never got a chance to race, even at Toro Rosso. As a result, he switched to DTM and Formula E, where he found success, while he even raced in WEC and other GT championships.
It has been a hard journey for da Costa where F1 seems the only missing chapter. Talking about the Red Bull juniors doing well, Horner felt that from all, having the Portuguese in the pinnacle of motor racing, would have been interesting.
“I think the great thing about that is that Red Bull have given this opportunity to so many guys out there, whether it was Jean-Eric Vergne, da Costa, Sebastien Buemi, fantastic to see him win the race and indeed he’s still supported by Red Bull, so all drivers that wouldn’t have had that opportunity if it weren’t for Red Bull’s support and patronage in their earlier career days,” said Horner. But I don’t think there’s any real regrets.
“The cream always rises to the top. I think that maybe it would have been interesting to see what da Costa could have done in a Formula 1 car, but that opportunity never really presented itself, summed up Horner. There were some reports of da Costa maybe driving during the inaugural Portuguese GP but so far nothing has come out as substantial.
Aside the Red Bull drivers talk, Horner also clarified that their technical chief Newey is going nowhere for next year amid speculations of Aston Martin lure. “The situation with Adrian – he’s been with us for 14 years, he’s very happy within the team.
“He enjoys working within the environment, he’s obviously taken more of a step back in more recent years but he’s still motivated and yeah, he will absolutely be with the team next year, without any doubt,” stated Horner.
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